Negative emodiversity is associated with emotional eating in adolescents: An examination of emotion dynamics in daily life

The effect of emotional eating in adolescents on obesity: A systematic review and meta-analysis study

BACKGROUND

Emotional eating behavior may cause adolescents to become overweight and obese. There is limited evidence that emotional eating has an impact on obesity. This study aims to synthesize and analyze the effect of emotional eating in adolescents on obesity.

METHODS

In this systematic review and meta-analysis study, six electronic databases, namely EBSCO, Web of Science, Pubmed, MEDLINE, ScienceDirect, and Scopus, were examined. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using the critical appraisal checklists developed by the JBI. The systematic review and meta-analysis used in this study were planned and conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Heterogeneity was determined using Cochran Q and I2 tests. Publication bias was evaluated using a funnel plot, Rosenthal fail-safe number, the Egger regression test, and the Begg and Mazumdar rank correlation analyses. The effect size was estimated at a confidence interval of 95 %.

RESULTS

Sixteen studies were included in this systematic review, and they were all subjected to a meta-analysis. According to the results of the meta-analysis, emotional eating in adolescents had a positive and medium effect size and a significant effect on obesity (Hedge's g = 0.473, Q = 280.943, I2 = 94.661 %, p < 0.05). As a result of the publication bias test, according to the funnel plot and Egger regression analysis (p = 0.002), it was determined that there was publication bias (p < 0.05). According to the Rosenthal fail-safe number and Begg and Mazumdar rank correlation analysis (p = 0.207), it was determined that there was no publication bias (p > 0.05).

CONCLUSION

The findings from this study indicated that emotional eating affected obesity in adolescents.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

The meta-analysis revealed that emotional eating seen in adolescents affected obesity. A comprehensive understanding of the effect of emotional eating on obesity is fundamental to improve nursing practices. Reducing eating behavior during emotional states, such as stress, anger, and tension, may prevent the development of obesity or contribute to weight loss by keeping emotions under control during the treatment phase of obesity.

Associations between caregiver-adolescent emodiversity and internalizing symptoms

Relationships between adolescents and primary caregivers play an important role in the development of internalizing (depressive and anxious) symptoms. We examined associations among caregiver-adolescent emotions and their emodiversity (their breadth and frequency) with adolescents' and caregivers' internalizing symptoms. A total of 181 adolescents (aged 13-17 years old) and their primary caregivers participated in a 14-day daily diary study between 2022 and 2023 where they reported their emotions at the end of each day. We used actor-partner interdependence models to examine whether positive and negative emotions and their emodiversity predicted each individual's and their family member's internalizing symptoms. Primary results concentrated on the actor effects of adolescents' and caregivers' mean levels of positive and negative emotions and their own internalizing symptoms. Greater negative emotion and lower positive emotion were associated with greater internalizing symptoms, for both caregivers and adolescents. Caregivers who showed greater positive emodiversity also showed greater internalizing symptoms. In contrast, relatively few partner effects were observed. Our findings point to the need for more research on the role of interpersonal emotions in daily life as they relate to internalizing symptoms. Although our sample captured diversity in ethnicity, results may not generalize across levels of socioeconomic status, gender identity, and caregiver education.

Psychological flexibility and cognitive-affective processes in young adults' daily lives

Psychological flexibility plays a crucial role in how young adults adapt to their evolving cognitive and emotional landscapes. Our study investigated a core aspect of psychological flexibility in young adults: adaptive variability and maladaptive rigidity in the capacity for behavior change. We examined the interplay of these elements with cognitive-affective processes within a dynamic network, uncovering their manifestation in everyday life. Through an Ecological Momentary Assessment design, we collected intensive longitudinal data over 3 weeks from 114 young adults ages 19 to 32. Using a dynamic network approach, we assessed the temporal dynamics and individual variability in flexibility in relation to cognitive-affective processes in this sample. Rigidity exhibited the strongest directed association with other variables in the temporal network as well as highest strength centrality, demonstrating particularly strong associations to other variables in the contemporaneous network. In conclusion, the results of this study suggest that rigidity in young adults is associated with negative affect and cognitions at the same time point and the immediate future.

Momentary PERMA: An Adapted Measurement Tool for Studying Well-Being in Daily Life

PERMA is a multidimensional framework that explains well-being through five hedonic and eudaimonic psychological elements-Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment. Soon after the PERMA framework was proposed, PERMA-Profiler was introduced as a validated assessment tool for measuring these five elements of well-being from a global perspective. The current study aimed to shed further light onto the measurement of PERMA elements, extending it beyond global evaluations, to daily life assessments and the examination of individual differences in their dynamic characteristics. We introduce mPERMA (momentary PERMA), as an EMA-adapted version of the PERMA-Profiler measure, to assess well-being in daily life. Using data collected in an Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) study (N = 160), we first demonstrate the factor structure of mPERMA through a multilevel factor analysis and next examine within-person means and the dynamics of change (e.g., intra-individual variability) in the PERMA elements. Findings revealed that mPERMA displays convergent validity with two global measures of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being, namely Flourishing and Subjective Well-Being. Moreover, dynamical characteristics of the five elements of well-being measured over time, map onto their corresponding hedonic or eudaimonic global measures of well-being. Results of this paper present how dynamical features of well-being in daily life provide novel insights into predicting global well-being.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10902-023-00684-w.